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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnv - 2015-09-17 - IF1 - Kitchener Record Article - Strasburg Creek Kitchener subdivision’s trout stream a haven Catherine Thompson Waterloo Region Record | Aug 05, 2015 Susan Follows walks her dog Beau at Strasburg Creek in Brigadoon. IF1 - 1 Susan Follows walks her dogs Beau and Walter at Wards Pond near Strasburg Creek in Brigadoon. The creek is home to trout species, despite running through a large residential subdivision. IF1 - 2 KITCHENER — The subdivision looks like any you could find in Kitchener, with broad streets, well-kept homes and slender young trees providing scant shade. But a short walk down the path offers a gateway into a different world: the hard sunlight gives way to dappled shade, the trees close in on the path and soar up into the sky, and the air is filled with the trills of birds and the trickle of water. Brigadoon subdivision in south Kitchener is home to a cold water trout stream, something seldom seen in cities. The cool waters of Strasburg Creek flow along three branches, from just west of Fischer- Hallman and Bleams roads, down to Schneider Creek and into the Grand River. Biologists haven't surveyed the size of the brook trout population, but as recently as two years ago, research showed Strasburg had a healthy native brook trout population, complete with young fish — evidence the species is successfully reproducing. That's important because brook trout are particularly sensitive to changes to their environment. So their continued presence is clear evidence of the quality of the water flowing in Strasburg Creek. Susan Follows can attest to the health of the local trout. The Brigadoon resident walks her Australian shepherd Beau near the creek every day. This spring, she saw a trout flipping about on the stone creek-bed as it tried to make its way down the creek. "Then all of a sudden he jumped up and got away," she said. "He was a good size, too." Follows says the creek and the surrounding forest are a haven, not only for trout but also snapping turtles, foxes and deer. She pointed out fresh deer prints in the muddy riverbank as she walked. "It really is amazing," she said of the creek and surrounding parkland. "Every day is different, and beautiful." The presence of the trout prompted Kitchener in 1991 to become the first municipality in Ontario to carry out a stormwater study that considered the whole watershed when planning new subdivisions. "It considered the biological features and functions that have to be supported," said Barbara Steiner, an environmental planner with the city. "Prior to that, the main concern of municipalities was to prevent flooding." The mindset changed, Steiner said. "The city started thinking, 'We should be managing stormwater not just for flood protection. We should be thinking about how to maintain the water quality, not just put a fence around a stream and think it's going to survive.' " IF1 - 3 Since the early 1990s, any new construction in the watershed is required, if soil conditions allow, to have an underground catchment system called an infiltration gallery to capture the clean run- off from roofs and direct it to groundwater. The run-off from driveways and streets, which is contaminated by road salt, oil and grease, fertilizers and pesticides from gardens and other pollutants, flows into stormwater management ponds, where grit and other contaminants fall to the pond bottom. The warmer water from stormwater ponds is cooled by flowing through a passive heat exchange system of submerged rocks before flowing back into the stream. In developed areas, the land next to the creek is city parkland. Development has been going on in the area for years, but there are still many pockets in the creek's watershed where subdivisions continue to go up. The city is planning to extend Strasburg Road over the creek, something ward Coun. Yvonne Fernandes vows she will watch diligently to ensure the river habitat is unharmed. Concern over the creek was one of the issues that prompted her entry into local politics. The city also spent about $2 million rehabilitating sections of the creek, roughly from Huron Road to Biehn Drive, said Fernandes. That work restored riverbank that was eroded and diverted the stream around old farm dams that were preventing the trout from freely moving from one part of the creek to another. There are no special fishing regulations on the creek, but anglers must have a licence. The city would prefer that people not fish in Strasburg Creek, opting instead for bigger trout fisheries, such as the Grand River near Elora and Fergus. Preserving habitat like Strasburg Creek is important, Steiner said, first because water quality matters in a community like Waterloo Region that depends on groundwater. But having such beautiful, wild spots, where a variety of species can thrive, makes the city a nicer place in which to live. "And if people experience them and grow up next to them, if society will continue to value these things as important and will protect them for years to come, that can only be a good thing," Steiner said. Fernandes says the creek offers a respite from the busyness of life. "It's beautiful. It's lovely to hear the water when it's rushing past in the spring … It's one of my most favourite spots in the city, and I really want to make sure that we protect it as much as we can." cthompson@therecord.com , Twitter: @ThompsonRecord IF1 - 4